International Football History and Statistics

Quick links:

• FIFA World Cup
• FA Premier League
• UEFA European Championship 2020
• UEFA Champions League 2021
• UEFA Nations League

On this day in football history

1927 Death of Sam Widdowson, formerly of Nottingham Forest and England, at the age of 76. He played for Forest from 1878 to 1885 and invented and patented the shinguard.

1929 When Edgar Kail, Dulwich Hamlet inside-forward, played for the full England team against France in Paris he became the first player to have represented England at every level. He had previously played for England Schools and England Amateurs: there were no Youth or Under-23 sides at the time. Kail scored two goals in a 4-1 win.

1936 Arsenal centre-half Bernard Joy became the last amateur to play for England in a full international when he appeared against Belgium in Brussels. Joy also appeared in a wartime match against Scotland in 1945; the last occasion an amateur played in an England professional team.

1949 Ken Coote joined Brentford as a professional. Playing mostly at full-back he made 513 League appearances for them before retiring from first class football in 1964.

1951 England beat Argentina 2-1 in the first meeting between the two countries in a Festival of Britain international at Wembley. This is also the first match that overseas opposition played England at Wembley.

1973 The UEFA Cup Final between Liverpool and Borussia Munchengladbach is abandoned because of a waterlogged pitch.

1981 Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City draw 1-1 in the FA Cup Final. Tommy Hutchinson scores for both teams.

1985 John Toshak appointed manager of Real Madrid.

1998 Celtic break Rangers winning streak of Scottish titles at nine. This means their own record set between 1966 - 1974 is not broken.